Zamhareer (, translit. al-zamharīr) is a place of extreme cold at the bottom of hell in some Islamic sources. It is characterized as being unbearably cold, with blizzards, ice, and snow.
The term is mentioned once in the Quran 76:13, stating the people in paradise will neither see the fires of the sun nor the unbearable cold of the moon. Some Islamic exegetes (mufassirun) advocate the idea that this term refers to a place in hell. Since they are created from fire, evil jinn and devils (shayāṭīn) have been suggested to be punished wherein, as the flames of hell would not hurt them.Lange, C. (2018). Devil (Satan). In K. Fleet, G. Krämer, D. Matringe, J. Nawas and D. J. Stewart (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam Three Online. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_25991 Positing Satan at the bottom of hell has a long tradition in Islamic theological discourse.Lange, C. (2015). Paradise and hell in Islamic traditions. Cambridge University Press. p. 141Palacios, M. A. (2013). Islam and the Divine Comedy. Vereinigtes Königreich: Taylor & Francis. p. 109 Frozen at the bottom of hell symbolizes his impotence and restrictions.Challenger, A. T. (2021). Philosophy and Art in Gurdjieff’s Beelzebub: A Modern Sufi Odyssey. Niederlande: Brill. p. 95
According to hadith tradition (Bukhari and Sahih Muslim), God (Allah) allows Jahannam to take two breaths per year—one in summer and one in winter—releasing Hell's extreme temperatures upon earth. According to Ibn Abi al-Dunya, when the sinners beg the guardians of hell to leave the fire, they escape to Zamhareer and then beg to go back to the fire because it is unbearably cold. Others describe Zamhareer as a pit where the bones of the damned are scattered.
References Tottoli, Roberto, and روبرتو توتولي. “The Qur’an, Qur’anic Exegesis and Muslim Traditions: The Case of zamharīr (Q. 76:13) Among Hell’s Punishments / القرآن والتفاسير والروايات الاسلامية: سورة الانسان آية رقم 13: الزمهرير من ألوان العقوبة في جهنم.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, Edinburgh University Press, 2008, pp. 142–52, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25728276.
See Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī no. 536 and no. 3260; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 617a and no. 617c; Sunan Ibn Mājah no. 4319; Sunan al-Dārimī no. 2887
External links “Zamharīr”: The Cold Section of Hell & the Du’ā During Cold Weather